Governor for steam-engines



AM. PHOTO-LITHO. EO, N Y. (OSBORNE'S PROCESS) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JNO. ARTHUR AND EVAN ARTHUR, OF NEV BRUNSVIGK, NEW JERSEY.

GOVERNOR FOR STEAM-ENGINES, &C.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,415, dated August 14, 1855.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN ARTHUR and EvAN ARTHUR, of New Brunswick, in the county of Middlesex and State of New J ersey, have invented a new and useful Governor for Regulating the Speed of Steam- Engines and other Motors and of Machinery Generally; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is an elevation, and Fig. 2, a sectional plan of the governor.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention consists in the employment of one or more elastic arcs, rings or bands applied to a revolving spindle, with a rigid attachment at one point and a loose attachment at another. The centrifugal force acquired by the said arcs, rings or bands, in their revolution acts in opposition to their elasticity and extends them laterally to the axis, and by that means as it increases or diminishes with any variation in the velocity, draws the loosely attached part to a greater or less extent along the spindle; and the said loosely attached part being connected by a lever or otherwise in a suitable manner with a throttle valve, gate or other device for controlling the power of the motor, acts to increase or diminish the power according as the speed diminishes or increases. This governor possesses the advantage over the ball governor of operating equally well in all positions of its axis, either vertically, horizontally or inclined, and also more quickly besides which it can be constructed at much less cost.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe more fully its construction and operation.

A, is the governor spindle fitted to run in suitable bearings, and a, a, a number of rings or bands formed by bending a strip of steel plate into the form of a circle. The

spindle passes diametrically through each of these rings and may serve as a means of securing the two ends together. At the lower part, the rings are all connected by a clamping piece Z2, b, which is secured to the spindle and at the upper part they are all connected with a slide c, which fits easily to the spindle, and has connected with it a lever d, which also connects with the throttle valve or other regulator.

B, is a pulley on the spindle to receive a band and give it rotary motion.

When the governor is revolving, the centrifugal force always tends more or less to increase the diameter of the rings a, a, transversely to the spindle and consequently to diminish it lengthwise of the spindle making them assume the form of ellipses as shown in red outline in Fig. l. The elasticity of the rings is always acting in opposition to the above effect of centrifugal force, consequently as the velocity and centrifugal force increase, the slide c, is drawn farther down, but as they diminish the elasticity of the rings raises the slide. The attachment of the throttle valve or other regulator is such that when the centrifugal force increases it shall act to reduce the speed or power.

This governor is free from the greatest objection there is to the use of the common ball governor, viz, the slowness of its operation. That governor is generally driven much slower than the machinery it governs,

hence when there is any increase or diminution of speed the machinery makes several revolutions before the governor makes one and its influence is perceptible. This governor on the contrary may be driven at a high velocity or much faster than the common speed of most machinery and as any variation in speed will make it active during or after its first revolution, the machinery will make but a small portion of a revolution before its speed is regulated.

It will be readily understood that arcs or curved pieces of steel may be applied to act in the same way as the rings or bands a, a.

We do not claim the invention of a govnor which acts by the agency of centrifugal force to move a slide lengthwise on a spindle, and through it to act upon the device Which controls the power and speed, as the coninion ball governor acts on that principle. But

sliding part or parts being connected with the throttle valve a device which controls the power or speed, and the Whole operating as herein described.

JOHN ARTHUR. EVAN ARTHUR.

Witnesses:

O. D. MUNN, J. Gr. MASON. 

